Colorado Employment Law

Compliance Audit Regarding Colorado Employment Laws

Baird Quinn’s Denver-based labor and employment lawyers conduct audits on behalf of clients and provides legal advice to ensure compliance with Colorado law regarding employment and other labor laws, as well as the federal laws governing Colorado employers and business owners. A Colorado employment law audit provides several benefits, including maximizing compliance with state laws and other governmental regulations, minimizing the potential for employee lawsuits, reducing employment-related costs (such as for workers’ compensation or unemployment benefits), and improving employee productivity and morale. Baird Quinn is a law firm that has conducted numerous compliance audits for businesses located outside of Colorado as well.

Reasons for a Compliance Audit Regarding Colorado Employment Laws

A compliance audit to ensure compliance with Colorado employment laws is recommended for several reasons:

  1. First, the EEOC has announced its renewed focus on combating systemic discrimination and its intent to pursue a greater number of large-scale enforcement actions through 2012. This enforcement program has already been implemented in Colorado.
  2. Second, the IRS will conduct over 6,000 payroll tax audits focusing on companies misclassifying workers as independent contractors. Further, plaintiff’s attorneys have started focusing on independent contractor misclassification issues in their attempts to develop new class action litigation.
  3. Third, FLSA class actions continue to increase.
  4. Fourth, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) has hired 250 new investigators and has launched a new “We Can Help” campaign with a jingle, website and bilingual public service ads designed to ferret out the incorrect classification of exempt employees and other violations of wage and hour laws under the Fair Labor Standards Act, Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, and Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
  5. Fifth, U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies plan over 1,000 I-9 compliance audits.
  6. Sixth, the OFCCP, OSHA and other agencies also have increased budgets and expanded audit task forces. Federal and state agencies will be sharing information about the results of their audits and will be referring non-compliant employers and executives for criminal prosecutions. Employers are strongly encouraged to conduct proactive audits in order to seek out and eliminate potential liability for non-compliance with federal statutory law, government regulations and Colorado employment laws.

Scope of a Colorado Employment Law Audit

As part of an audit, Baird Quinn’s employment attorneys conduct a thorough review of your employment policies and practices.

We review, analyze and make recommendations with respect to:

  • Pre-Employment Policies and Procedures, including pre-employment advertisements, recruitment processes, selection procedures, employment applications, references/background checks, interview processes, pre-employment testing, and selection criteria, including addressing ‘Ban the Box’ advocacy.
  • Job Descriptions are reviewed to determine whether they have been developed to accurately identify essential job functions and the exempt/non-exempt status of employees.
  • Personnel Policies/Employee Handbooks are reviewed to ensure that they have been drafted in such a way as to minimize potential liability against employee claims (particularly in matters such as wage rate and other rate of pay issues such as minimum wage, overtime pay within a workweek, allotted meal periods within a workday, and time off), accurately reflect your policies and procedures, ensure compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements, and include any necessary legal disclaimers and exemptions.
  • Record Retention and Poster practices are reviewed to ensure compliance with federal and state regulatory requirements, including those under Colorado employment laws.
  • Employment Practices relating to employee evaluation, promotion, demotion and termination are reviewed to minimize potential litigation and liability. We review and make recommendations with respect to issues such as performance evaluations, disciplinary action, exit interviews, severance agreements, and issues related to allegations of wrongful termination.
  • Employment/Independent Contractor Agreements and other employment contracts are optimized to protect your interests in the areas of arbitration, confidentiality, non-competition/non-solicitation, conflict of interest, work-for-hire materials, severance separation, releases of liability, necessary whistleblower protections, issues related to allegations of workplace discrimination on the basis of age, race, gender identity, or sexual orientation, and independent contractor status.
  • Federal and Colorado Employment Law reviews are discussed so you understand the legal/regulatory environment in which you are operating and your rights in this environment. We engage in a comprehensive discussion with you regarding Federal law and Colorado employment laws, including the laws prohibiting discrimination in the workplace, regulating non-competition/non-solicitation agreements, governing wage/hour practices, and requiring timely wage payment during and after employment.

These are only a few of the areas covered in this comprehensive review.

Each state has different employment laws. Employers should ensure that their policies and practices are in compliance with Colorado employment laws. Please contact one of Baird Quinn’s labor and employment lawyers if you are interested in a comprehensive audit under Federal and Colorado employment laws. You may go to the following link for contact information and additional information about our Colorado labor and employment lawyer